Four Wines for $100, To Buy Now

Today is wine shopping day. I'll take you through the process that I use when I'm out looking to buy wine. I know wine shopping can be confusing, sometimes it can flat out be intimidating, and I can't cover every aspect in this video, but my intent is to provide you with information that will help you to make more informed buying decisions. The back part of this video will be a tasting and discussion of the wines that I've purchased. I plan to spend about $25 each for four bottles of French wine, each coming from a different wine region. I hope you'll watch the entire video, but if you want to jump ahead to the tasting portion, there are chapter markers in the timeline. For me, there are six key considerations when shopping for wine. One is price or perceived value. The next is place of origin. Wines generally reflect where they are from. Next is grape variety or varieties. Following that is vintage. This is more important in some places than others. Personal preference. What do you like? And occasion. Is it a casual or formal event? Maybe it's for gifting. In the best case scenario, the store will have a well-trained staff to provide wine advice, but it never hurts to do your own research. At the very least, it allows you to ask better questions, which should help you to get exactly what you're looking for. It's time to go to the wine store. I'll be shopping at Total Wine, but I'm intentionally choosing wines that are not exclusive to Total. They can be found in other retailers, along with some international availability. Also, no private label wines will be in this video, only artisanal wines with a history and sense of place. Since the focus is on France, I'll look at classic regions with broad availability like Bordeaux, Burgundy, Rhone, Loire, and Alsace. I'll also take a look at the regions in the south of France, along with less commonly found places like Jura, Gaor, and Mataron. Sparkling and dessert wines are for another video. Bordeaux has a reputation for big dollar wines. With thousands of wine producers, it's just a small group of the top tier chateaus that drives the image for high prices. Beyond that, much of the region offers sensational values. For starters, I looked at the second wines from the top chateaus, but the prices were too steep for this video's budget. Next, I looked at wines classified as Cru Bourgeois. This is one of the most reliable sources for value within Bordeaux. Oftentimes, excellent options can be found for under $30. Burgundy is one of the least likely places to find value. Occasionally, reasonable prices can be found in Chablis or Côte-Chalinet. I also checked wines with the broader regional appellation of Bourgogne, both Blanc and Rouge. Even at this level, prices were sometimes too steep, but I did find what should be a standout source from the Côte de Beaune. Hopefully, some due diligence will pay dividends. We'll see how it fares in the wine tasting. I also gave Cru Bourgeois a look, but I thought there were better options for the money. The Rhone Valley has long offered some of the best wine values in the world. Much of the northern Rhone is priced out of range for this video, but there are plenty of options in the southern Rhone. Understanding the various classifications will provide an idea of what you can expect in your wine glass. Basic Côte de Rhone, this is the most common, usually the cheapest. It has the least restrictive production rules. It can be anywhere from so-so to something special. Côte de Rhone Vallage, generally better quality, offering more depth and concentration, typically for a bit more money. At the top tier, some of the crews are pricey, but others are tremendous values. I found what should be a gem. For both Loire and Alsace, there were some interesting wines, but I was looking at consistent values like Minitou Salon, Vouvray, maybe even a top tier Muscadet from Loire or Pinot Blanc or Riesling from Alsace, but I was feeling better about the three wines that were already in my shopping cart. The south of France is a massive region with an extreme mix of everything from plonk to outstanding wines. This really needs to be its own separate video. That said, I found an interesting red to round out the mix of wines to be tasted. I'm back home with the wine bottles in tote. Over the years, I've developed a habit of always checking the wine glass for dust or soap residue before wine tasting. First up is the 2022 Vincent Giardin Cuvée Saint-Vincent Bourgogne Blanc. This is burgundy at a broad regional level. The producer has a great reputation for wines from the Cote d'Ivoire like Merceau and Chausseigne Montrachet. I'm a fan of buying entry-level wines from the top producers. Oftentimes, it leads to a good result. Price is $24.99. The wine is barrel fermented in large neutral oak. It's pale yellow in color with a youthful appearance. This is heading in a good direction. There's a meyer lemon and peach character. Something that's a little bit reminiscent of green tea. It's expressive. There's a freshness, purity, just moderate intensity. On the palate, very typical of the 2022s for white burgundy. Wines have ripeness, but they're not overblown. The alcohol level is not too elevated. They're typically 12.5 to 13. This one checks in at 13. The acidity, really fresh. There's almost a mouth-watering characteristic. That peach and lemon character really do follow through. Nice length on the back palate. Wine is thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish, but this is not a wine that has that wow factor. It's going to get your attention through the subtlety and nuance. For about $25, I think this wine is well worth the money and I would buy this again. If you've not yet subscribed to my channel, please consider doing it right now. Hit the like button, definitely hit that notification bell, and if hype is an option, please hit that as well. All these things help to grow my channel. It's much appreciated. Next up is the 2022 Pierre de Montignac from the Médoc region of Bordeaux. It's made from 50% Merlot, 45% Cabernet Sauvignon, and 5% Petit Verdot. I've not previously tasted this wine in any vintage. The price is $24.99. Currently, there are approximately 170 chateaus classified as Look for it on the label along with the QR code. This one shows good color extraction with a deep youthful core. 2022 from Bordeaux is a vintage that you can buy in confidence. The wines are also very plentiful in the current marketplace. Several months ago, back in early 2025, I had a chance to taste over 100 examples of the newly released 22 vintage. The wines are absolutely outstanding, both from the left and right bank. As for this one, this is from the left bank, and it has more Merlot than what is typical. Oftentimes, Merlot-based wines are more common in the right bank, but it's also growing in presence in the left bank as well, and this one at 50% is really, really quite high in terms of the aroma. Very nice. There is a black fruit and red fruit character, a bit of a plummy note, also a bit reminiscent of dark chocolate. There's good intensity, smells nice and pure. Also, the oak character in this wine is very subtle. It's not a wine built on that overt oak character. On the palate, the good story continues. There's plenty of weight here. I would call the wine medium full. Again, that black and red fruit character, that plum note shows through. Oak is there, but it's very subtle. The acidity is at a moderate level. The alcohol on this wine clicks in at 13.5%. There's no heat, there's none of that on this wine at all. Good length on the back palate, but there's definitely some tannins here. They're not angular, they're not tough tannins, but they're certainly there. My feeling is this wine certainly would benefit from some aeration. This is a wine that could easily age another five years or so. If you're going to drink this sometime soon, just give it plenty of time to aerate. In terms of value for the money for $25, I'm happy with it. I think this wine is rock solid. Next up is the 2023 Domaine Le Colombert Vacheras Via Vigna, which is a Cru or top tier classification from the Rhone Valley. The vines age an average of 60 years old. The wine is priced at $24.99. The appearance is a medium deep purple red with good depth of color at the core. Very typical of a youthful Grenache based wine. Through my many years in the wine trade, I've had more wine from the southern Rhone than anywhere else. I love these wines. I find them to be some of the most interesting, exciting wines in the world. Oftentimes the value can be very good as well. Sure, prices have ticked up recently, but there still is some good value. And the southern Rhone was the inspiration for this. As for this particular wine, I don't believe I have ever had a wine from this property before. It might be a bit of a senior moment, but I think this is a first. Now what caught my attention with this wine is really three things. One is the appellation. Looking for that appellation that is undervalued. Baccarat oftentimes is one of them. There's a couple of others that I've posted up above here that are worth checking out. The other is old vines. Old vines generally produce smaller yields, smaller clusters, smaller berries. The fruit gets a high degree of ripeness and the resulting wines generally have a high degree of concentration. So that's typically a good thing. Also the blend. Southern Rhone, this is a Mediterranean region. Oftentimes Grenache is what leads the way. This particular wine is 80% Grenache, 20% Morvedra. It's an interesting blend. Oftentimes there's a little bit of Syrah, maybe Caragance. And so this is just the two grape varieties. So this is what caught my attention. As for the aroma on this wine, pretty wild. There's a dark fruit character, a little spicy, a little bit peppery. There's a characteristic here that is reminiscent of something called Garrique. And it's those herbs, those dried herbs that are found in the south of France. It has a little bit of that characteristic. The aroma is outstanding. Very expressive, good intensity. Absolutely love the way this smells. On the palate, there's some wild factor here. Very dense, full, ripe fruit. That black fruit character really shows through. A little bit peppery. There's a density. There's a lot of volume here. The acidity is just at a mid-level. There's no overt oak influence in this wine. But there's a lot going on. There's a little bit of a wild, rustic sort of component to this wine. The back palate has some nice length. There's some tannins here, but they're not coarse. This wine is put together extremely well. I'm curious to see how this develops with a bit of air. But in its current state, it's really, really nice. This is excellent. And looking at the range of Vacheras, I put this more in the top tier. This wine really does deliver a lot. I think in terms of quality and what it brings, this would rival a good number of Chateauneuf-du-Pape. This wine would have some good aging potential. I think five, six years, maybe a bit more, I think the wine actually will develop. This is an absolute rock star. Next up is the 2018 Department 66 Others from French Catalonia in near the Spanish border. The wine is priced at $24.99. The color is medium deep red with a slight hazy appearance. There's also a good amount of fade out at the edge of the glass. With this last bottle, I took a bit of a flyer. And I'll get into that in just a moment. But first, just opening this bottle was not easy. It felt a little like Greco-Roman wrestling. And this was the first time in a long while this happened. I cracked the cork as it was coming out. Luckily, I had this, the Ossau two-pronged to the rescue. With the cork, you'll notice there are tartrate crystals, those little shiny specks that are on the end of that cork. And this oftentimes can be found with wines that have not been overly manipulated. The wines are left much more in their natural state. This is typically a good sign. Now with Roussillon, this is in the far south part of France. I've been there a few times. It seems like the wind is howling every time I'm there. And this has an effect on the vines and on the fruit. It keeps things very dry and tends to concentrate that fruit character. Grenache is king down in that part of France. Oftentimes you can find in very old vines, the old gnarled twisted head pruned vines. This wine is connected to Dave Finney, and he's the guy who very much did redefine winemaking and wine marketing in Napa with the brand called The Prisoner. This is his operation in the south of France. So there's two things that are immediately apparent with this. This has all the telltale signs of warm climate fruit. A little jammy, a little stewy. It has that bit of a pruney characteristic. It's also just this ripe strawberry notes, and there's a rustic sort of character to this wine. Also, it has some tertiary notes. This is a 2018, so it does have a bit of mileage. That certainly does show in the aroma. This wine definitely makes a big statement. It's very concentrated, full, ripe, a lot of volume on the palate as well. Again, a bit of that stewy pruney characteristic does follow through. Tertiary notes are very evident. You can tell this wine has had some bottle age development. Back palate is actually rather soft, but the alcohol on this is quite elevated. It actually tips in a little over 15%. It's really not all that unusual for wines from this part of France. It's an interesting wine. It's really not my style, and I think that's really what it comes down to. If you like dense, full, really concentrated wines, this could be to your liking. For me, not so much. The final price for today's wine came in just a bit under $100 with the help of a few discounts. If you have any wine shopping questions, don't hesitate to ask. I my best to follow up on each and every one. Here's a couple of other recent videos that may be of interest. As for me, I'm going to be enjoying some of the Baccarat. I think this wine is absolutely outstanding, and please stop back again before too long. Cheers!